Musical director Anne-Marie Katemopoulos stands stern and draws silence from a 10-member band before leading them into the opening notes of a musical number.

Manuel Rodriguez, an alumnus of the performing arts program at Lincoln High School in San Jose, tears himself away from his ebullient chatter with cast mates to meld his voice with the rest of the cast. Together, their voices form a crescendo of tentative humming, gaining momentum as the chorus, all proud Lincoln High School alumni, transfers its zeal from words into song.

It’s 24 hours to showtime, and the Lincoln High School performing arts department supporters are is frantically putting together “In The Heights,” a musical showcase featuring Lincoln High School returning alumni. Their efforts are aimed at helping the program’s support group raise $40,000, which will be used for the 2013-2014 school year.

The short amount of rehearsal is stressful for Rodriguez and his castmates. Still, for Rodriguez, being invited back to his alma mater for “In the Heights” feels more like “coming home” than a job.

The Lincoln High School performing arts department convinced and prepared him for a career in the entertainment industry. If it had not been for the renowned and rigorous program, perhaps he would not have had the chance to eventually work on musicals like “Spring Awakening” at the San Jose Repertory Theatre and “Chicago” at Welk Theatre in San Diego.

Rodriguez and other returning alumni know their collective effort will contribute to a larger, more meaningful cause. The musical, with its themes of personal sacrifice and resourcefulness, tenacity, and the enduring bonds of friendship to overcome hardship, embodies the adversity the performing arts program has endured the past three years, and its subsequent recovery.

The tribulations started in 2010. Due to its academic performance numbers, Lincoln High was labeled a Program Improvement school, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. This designation meant incoming ninth and tenth graders who did not meet basic proficiency on mandated state tests had to take a double period for either math or language arts, or in some cases, both.

The San Jose Unified School District forced Lincoln to allocate funds to staff double-class periods, taking away funding for performing arts. It left the school scrambling to find a way to fund classes like musical theory, beginning drama and electronic music.

No one at Lincoln was going to take this sitting down. Parents and alumni formed the Lincoln Performing Arts Coalition (LPAC), a nonprofit group to provide financial assistance to the performing arts program. The coalition came up with a battle plan to keep and retain the classes put in danger as a result of the allocation.

“There was a complete, quick and rapid mobilization by the community, at the time by the parents of the [students at the] school,” said Peggy Mahony, president of LPAC and mother of a 2012 graduate.

The plan LPAC came up with was twofold: host annual holiday and summer benefits to raise the $40,000 needed to keep the endangered programs fully funded, as well as accept donations via Paypal on their website, www.lpac4arts.blogspot.com.

Boasting alumni in places ranging from the San Jose Opera to Barnum & Bailey Circus to New York’s Broadway, LPAC decided to recruit former students to put on a production for one night only, with just 24 hours to rehearse beforehand.

“We’re getting really good at it, although we’d rather not do it at all because it’s a lot of stress on everyone’s systems. But it’s for a good cause” director Chuck Manthe said. “It’s good stress, though. It’s fun stress.” Everyone involved with the show knows their toil will merit them a crucial reward. The summer benefit production would not only contribute to LPAC’s support of the two classes on the chopping block — musical theater and jazz choir — but it would give alumni the opportunity to give back to a community that had so profoundly shaped their lives.

“I love that I can give back what they gave me more than 10 years ago,” said Yolanda Valdivil, a regional theatre performer and alumna of the class of 2002.

The primary hope of all involved in the production is to raise the amount of money needed to keep the program going for another year.

The alumni, like the LPAC, believe that the performing arts program plays a pivotal role in the lives of the students who take part in it. For many, a huge debt is owed to the program for introducing them and giving them the expertise to succeed in their passion.

“If it wasn’t for the program here I wouldn’t be as involved in the arts as I [am] today,” Rodriguez, class of 2010, admitted earnestly.

This is because the challenges and rewards of the program transform them into creative thinkers with skill sets that can be used regardless of whether or not they pursue a career in entertainment.

Furthermore, it gives students the unique opportunity to use the performing arts program as a way to express themselves and their creativity in a secure environment.

“There’s something about the arts that is freeing and liberating,” Valdivil said.

Giving the students a way to express their creativity is likewise an important factor in the community’s desire to keep the program alive and well.

Cristal Leo, now a doctor and alumna of the class of 1994, passionately explained that “When people don’t have an outlet for creativity, it can turn inward and be destructive or it can be let loose outward to the community at large.”

For her, having the allocations taken away funding for the arts program is simply “disheartening,” a sentiment many of her fellow Lincoln Lions share.

Some believe that it appears the performing arts department at Lincoln High School has already hit rock bottom and has resurged, thanks to the efforts of those parents and students who banded together.

“We’re feeling very reasonably optimistic at this point,” Manhony said. “I don’t get the sense that we’re going to need to do any more than what we are doing.”

Whether the department may be on a high or low, it will always be loved by current and past students. Their fondness and dedication for the program transcends the barriers of time and distance, as alumni from a variety of graduation classes travel from all over the country to take part in this one show.

The Lincoln performing arts department is worth that much to them.

“I just think it’s invaluable,” Mahony said. “It’s a tremendous and unique opportunity that needs to be preserved intact for everyone else to enjoy for all the years going forward.”

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